Page: 394

«Neue Züricher Zeitung» No. 16. Evening edition. January 9, 1917.

**On the Postponement of the Congress of the Social-Democratic Party**

By a promissory note accepted by the party leaders on its behalf, Swiss social-democracy "was supposed to pay" the international social-revolutionaries by formal resolution of the party congress. The promissory note was already presented at the last congress in November in Zurich...

A commission drafted 2 projects:

"Thereby a critical situation was created. The congress could not have evaded taking a clear position. At the congress an open struggle would have broken out between the social-revolutionary tendency, which wanted to draw Swiss social-democracy over to the side of Liebknecht, Mehring, Luxemburg and comrades of kindred spirit—French, Russian and others—on the one hand, and the 'social-patriotic' tendency, as the former call it—on the other; thereby the center politicians in social-democracy, who would like to live in peace with both tendencies, would have been forced to take one side or the other..."

**

They, i.e., the social-patriots and others, decided to postpone the congress:

NB!!
NB
NB

"*Darüber sind nun die unentwegten Anhänger von Zimmerwald und Kienthal, die ungeduldig die Einlösung des ihnen gegebenen revolutionären Wechsels begehrten, nicht wenig entrüstet. Sie fühlen sich nicht mit Unrecht geprellt.*"

..."*Die schweizerische Sozialdemokratie — das ist in der Tat der Sinn des Beschlusses des Parteivonstandes — wagt nicht mehr, offen Farbe zu bekennen, wie sie in einer so wichtigen und aktuellen Frage, wie es die Stellung zum Militärwesen und zur Landesverteidigung ist, steht, weil sie davon eine Verschärfung der sie lähmenden innern Gegensätze und eventuell eine weitere Loslösung der in ihr vereinigten Elemente befürchten muss. Dieser Vorgang ist deshalb von nicht geringem öffentlichem Interesse, weil er neuerdings zeigt, dass die Parteieinheit auch in der schweizerischen Sozialdemokratie tatsächlich nicht mehr besteht und die Illusion ihres Vorhandenseins nur um den Preis — der Verschiebung ihrer Parteitage kümmerlich aufrecht erhalten werden kann.*" (End of article).

"This has now incensed not a little the steadfast supporters of Zimmerwald and Kienthal, who impatiently demanded payment on the revolutionary promissory note issued to them. They consider themselves swindled, and not without reason."

NBÜ

..."Swiss social-democracy — such is indeed the meaning of the party leadership's resolution — no longer dares to openly declare its position on such an important and timely question as its attitude toward the military and national defense, for it must fear the sharpening of the paralyzing internal contradictions within it, and possibly even the further splitting away of the elements united in it. This phenomenon is of considerable public interest because it once again shows that even in Swiss social-democracy there is in fact no longer party unity, and the illusion of its existence can be barely maintained only at the price of postponing its party congresses." (End of article).

NB

NB

# «BASLER VORWÄRTS»
## «Swiss Capital Abroad»

«Basler Vorwärts» January 26, 1917:

"*Schweizerisches Kapital im Auslände*."

Lectures at the Economics seminar of the University of Bern (under the direction of Professor Reichesberg).

Lecture by Alfred Fischer.

"*Switzerland's indebtedness stands in a causal relationship with its foreign capital investments. The latter amounts to 1½ billion francs, of which one billion falls to France.*"

"*The extent of Swiss capital investments abroad can only be estimated. These estimates fluctuate between 2½ and 4½ billion francs. From this it follows that Switzerland is a pronounced creditor nation, since its capital investments are approximately twice as large as its indebtedness to foreign countries.*"